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Wednesday, 30 October 2013

City Harvest Church Accused of Embezzling Over $40 Million To Fund Pastor’s Wife’s Hip Hop Career: Kong Hee spoke to God directly and that The Lord apologized for Kong Hee being arrested and put on trial.

City Harvest Church Accused of Embezzling Over $40 Million To Fund Pastor’s Wife’s Hip Hop Career

“Love
not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man
love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” – 1 John 2:15.

In one of the worst allegations of church misconduct of all time, Kong Hee, the Pastor, and five other leaders at City Harvest Church in Singapore have been accused of misusing over $40 million dollars in church funds to fund the hip hop career
of the pastor’s wife, Sun Ho and later cover those illicit transactions
in order to avoid prosecution. The City Harvest case, along with all of
the surrounding news that has since come out about the church is the
perfect example of the unbiblical Prosperity Gospel run amok and the
compromise that is taking place in much of the Christian church all over
the world – as pastors abandon sound biblical doctrine, in favor of
“me-centered”, prosperity-focused teaching filled with Biblical error.The Scandal

Pastor Kong Hee and Sun Ho arrive for trial.

After a two year investigation by Singapore’s Commissioner of
Charities and the Commercial Affairs Department of the Singapore police,
Pastor Kong Hee and other church leaders were arrested for secretly
using church funds in a series of complex transactions (in which the
church purchased bonds in sham companies that were owned by City Harvest
itself, thus diverting “investment funds” back into the hands of the
pastor and leadership) that were supposed to go a building fund, to
finance the hip hop career of the pastor’s wife, Sun Ho, who goes by the
stage name of “Geisha.”
According to reports:

The prosecution alleges that the six leaders, all members
of the church’s management board, have misappropriated more than Sg$50
million (nearly US $40 million) of church funds and have committed
criminal breach of trust.
As reported by the Wall Street Journal, according to the Commissioner
of Charities “[The] funds were used with the purported intention to
finance Ho Yeow Sun’s secular music career to connect with people,” the
Commissioner of Charities said in a statement released Tuesday. “There
was a concerted effort to conceal this movement of funds from its
stakeholders.”
AFP reports that Prosecutors at the start of the trial Wednesday said
the accused channeled money allotted for the church’s building into
buying sham bond investments in church-linked companies so they could
finance Ho’s secular music career.
They allegedly falsified church accounts to make it appear the bonds
were redeemed, in a practice the prosecutors called “round-tripping”.
“These transactions were thus designed to throw the auditors off the
scent of the bogus bonds,” said Deputy Public Prosecutor Mavis Chionh.
Sun Ho herself is not on trial, the Brisbane Times says, and early this
week she was reinstated by Singapore’s Commissioner of Charities as City
Harvest’s executive director after a review found she had not
contributed to mismanagement of the church.” (source).

The Crossover Project

City Harvest’s Crossover Project was focused on making Sun Ho a global pop star.

But there were false prophets also among the people, even
as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in
damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring
upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their
pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken
of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make
merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and
their damnation slumbereth not. – 2 Peter 2:1-3.

At the center of this scandal is The Crossover Project
– City Harvest’s attempt to spread the Gospel to the secular world
through the use of pop music – specifically, the pop music of Sun Ho,
the pastor’s wife. So from the onset, the foundation of this project was
unbiblical. Christians are not commanded to spread the Gospel through
pop culture, but to use the Word of God, the Bible to convert souls to
believe in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins. Romans Chapter 1 says: “ For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth..”
The power to change a person’s heart to have saving faith in Jesus
Christ is from God and His Word, not man-made efforts to use hip hop
music that is not even mentioning God, Jesus or the Gospel.

The pastor’s wife, here at the Grammy Awards, had a multi-million dollar budget (from church funds) for her hip hop career.

Despite this obvious conflict with Scripture, the leadership of City
Harvest maintains that they received the command to carry out this
project directly from The Lord. As stated on their own documentary on the Crossover Project, which is still viewable on their church website;

“In 2002, City Harvest Church received a mandate from God
to reach the secular world through music…It was necessary to extend the
influence of Sun into certain cities through the power of pop culture
and pop music.” (source).

According to the church leadership, the plan was for Sun Ho to
perform her secular pop music in a certain city, and then Pastor Kong
Hee would preach at a local church in the same area. Soon that church
would arrange another concert with Sun Ho as the headliner and this was
supposed to share the Gospel.
Not only was this plan completely ungodly, the music of Sun Ho, aka
Geisha, was completely sinful and sexually-charged. Here is a video for
her song “China Wine”.

[Warning: This video contains a great deal of provocative dancing, skimpy clothing and one inappropriate word]

The Bible says: “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye
not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever
therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” (James 4:4).
This video is immersed in worldliness and sinful rebellion. How is the
Gospel being spread or the church promoted by a pastor’s wife dressing
provocatively and dancing around in a hip hop reggae video? Rather than
promoting the Gospel, the Crossover Project was more an attempt to
launch Sun Ho the Geisha’s secular music career.
In an interview in 2007, Sun Ho made it clear that she was interested in full on secular music style:

You’ve done a lot with Asian MTV. Are you planning to do music videos for MTV in the United States?
Sun Ho: “I can’t wait for that! I keep asking, “When are we going to
shoot for MTV?” Recently I watched Justin Timberlake and I watched
Christina Aguilera, and Beyonce’s. I would have to say that it’s
different from what we do in Asia. I keep telling Tas (her manager)
“Tas, you’ve gotta prepare me for that! I have to be more sexy!!”
(Laughs)
I want to work with the choreographer to come up with “China Wine”
dance steps and stuff. Seriously, I can’t wait to grow in America and I
can’t wait for people to see me and [tell me] how they feel about my
music. I feel like this is the only way an artist can grow” (source).

Thousands of churchgoers at City Harvest were told this was promoting the Gospel.

The Bible says of women in the church: “The aged women
likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false
accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; That they may
teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love
their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient
to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.” (Titus 2:3-5).
What spirit is leading Sun Ho, as an elder woman in the church and the
pastor’s wife, to make videos like these and aspire for the world? It is
not a spirit of God.
At trial, prosecutors presented evidence Sun Ho The Geisha was given a $10M marketing budget that was “in line with Shakira’s marketing budget and less than the budget for Beyonce”. (source). All of this was paid for with church funds given by the congregation each week.

Church leaders stated at trial that Sun Ho’s career was the focal point of City Harvest.

In one of the many sites devoted to exposing this church, former
members testify that not only was the Crossover Project acknowledged by
the church, churchgoers were pressured to buy Geisha’s albums on a
weekly basis:

I initially attended it [City Harvest Church] with my
folks. We enjoyed the sermon and the clear teachings of the pastor and
his fellow leaders. But things went downhill one Sunday morning when a
leader took to the stage to plug Ho Yeow Sun’s new album. The horrifying
thing was how he chirpily used hard sell tactics to move the units. We were asked to buy more than one copy and pass them to our
friends. If one were to buy 6 copies or some absurd number, that would
entitle one to a free poster or t-shirt (something along those lines).
What was most upsetting at that time, was the fact that he was using the
pulpit to push the sales of the pastor’s wife who was more interested
in cutting pop albums than say attending church service. The posters
from her new album were also plastered along the entrance and lobby of
the building. There were no images of Jesus. No, instead, this singer’s
face, the pastor’s wife, was all over the building. If that does not
trigger alarm bells in the average church-goer, what will? That was the
last week we attended CHC. (source).

All the while, Pastor Kong Hee fully endorsed his wife’s career,
performances and lavish lifestyle. As part of the effort to “spread the
Gospel” Sun Ho, aka Geisha, moved to Hollywood Hills, California where she lived in a rented mansion for $28,000 per month,
in a neighborhood that boasts Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie as
residents. How can any church, much less one with tens of thousands of
members, stand for this? How can they tolerate such clearly outrageous
behavior from their leadership? This is the danger of the spiritual
apostasy – the departure from Biblical preaching, to man-made,
entertainment-focused heresy, that is sweeping through much of the
Church today.

Sun Ho lived the life of a rock star.

The lifestyle of the Pastor Kong Hee and his wife are precisely what Scripture warns against:

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the
world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the
eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the
will of God abideth for ever. – 1 John 2:15-17.

The Lord Jesus Christ said: “… Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” (Luke 12:15).
All throughout the Bible Christians are told not to covet and lust for
the material wealth of this world. City Harvest has not only lusted for
the world, it has flaunted it in the form of their Pastor’s wife living
the life of a Hollywood superstar.
Unfortunately for Sun Ho, aka Geisha, the superstar career she
envisioned as a crossover star in America never materialized. After
suffering massive losses from production costs, the signing of
high-profile co-producers and singers, her debut American album incurred
a $14M loss, which the church paid off in a single transaction. The
congregation was told that monies were being used for a “building fund.”
were used to purchase bonds from a company called Xtron. Prosecutors
allege that Xtron was a sham company and presented compelling evidence:
they have the financial records of a $14M transfer to Xtron productions,
the company that managed Ho. Serina Wee, the Chief Financial officer
for City Harvest church, and one of the six accused leaders in the
trial, sent the money.
In all, prosecutors allege that $23M of church funds were used to finance Ho’s career and albums. Another $20M was used to try and cover the transactions.
In their defense, lawyers for City Harvest Church said that the Crossover Project was the most important effort
the church was making and that keeping finances discreet was necessary
to its success. They claim that the Pastors and leaders at City Harvest did not want the public to know
that Sun Ho’s career was being funded by a church so they would not be
turned off before hearing her music and strong Christian testimony.

The Horrible Side of False Doctrine

Despite the false doctrine and scandals, many of City Harvest congregations remain supportive of Pastor Kong Hee and Sun Ho.

I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus
Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his
kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove,
rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. For the time will
come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts
shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they
shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto
fables. – 2 Timothy 4:1-4.

Lost in this is that not only are thousands of churchgoers and fans
of City Harvest church being wrongly fleeced of their money, they are
also in danger of eternity in hell and the lake of fire by listening to
the numerous false doctrines being preached at City Harvest.
City Harvest built itself into a mega-church on the basis of the Prosperity Gospel,
the heretical, false doctrine that claims that Christians are entitled
to all sorts of riches and earthly prosperity, provided they give an
initial “seed” to their pastor. It essentially teaches that Christians
must pay for the blessings they want in life but like a Ponzi scheme,
will receive a major return on their investment in the end. And they are
the epitome of everything that is wrong with this doctrine that has led
so many churches astray: Pastors who live rock star, lavish lifestyles
as “proof” of their “anointing”, then proclaim that they are “prophets”
and thus their teachings and decisions should not be questioned,
constant pressure to give money as “tithes and offerings” to secure
blessings and “favor” from God and very little actual Biblical preaching
that puts the focus on our sin, need for forgiveness and ultimate salvation in Jesus Christ.

In the clip below, Kong Hee, in one of his many pleas for money from
his congregation, shamelessly pressures his followers to give money by
saying that their prayers will be ineffective without it:

Notice what Hee says from the opening moments: “What we give every week is the measure of the value you place on your Lord and your Savior Jesus Christ.”
Nowhere in Scripture are we told this. At no point in Scripture did
Jesus ever ask anyone for money and yet he healed the blind, the lame
and raised people from the dead. He spent His earthly ministry with His
disciples and they never gave him “seed offerings” or paid Him for His
teachings. Yet this is the deceptive, Satanic manipulation of the
Prosperity Gospel. It is premised on fooling churchgoers into believing
that their money is the key to blessings from God and a true measure of
how much faith they have in God. The Bible says nothing of the sort. For
a true, Bible-believing, born again Christian, blessings come from
faith in Jesus Christ.
The ultimate blessing any person can receive is the forgiveness of their sins and eternal life.
And that comes from belief in the heart, not money or doing an action.
The Lord Jesus Christ made it clear repeatedly in Scriptures:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son
into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him
might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that
believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the
name of the only begotten Son of God. – John 3:16-18.He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. – John 3:36.
And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day. – John 6:40.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. – John 6:47.

Time and time again, it is faith, belief in the heart, that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God, who died for your sins and took your
punishment so that you may live eternally and be forgiven, is what saves a person. Not performing any action, like giving money.
Now that Jesus is raised from the dead, He went up to glory, sitting
at the right hand of God The Father in Heaven. And He serves as the High
Priest and advocate for all who believe in Him. He provides the
forgiveness for our sins before The Father by the testimony of His shed
blood on the cross. So when a person becomes a Christian, they are
viewed as “righteous” and free of sin in God’s eyes, because the
righteous, sinless life Christ lived is “imputed” or transferred to the
believer. Thus a Christian can pray directly to God and worship directly
to Him:

Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is
passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our
profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with
the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we
are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of
grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
– Hebrews 4:14-16.

A Christian can pray and worship God at any time of any day as they
feel. But Kong Hee says that raising one’s hands and praising God has no
meaning if “the tithe is held back.” Once again, the false prophet
takes everything back to money. This is to pressure the church and his
television audience to give.
In the clip below, Pastor Kong Hee misuses John chapter 12 to preach that Jesus claimed to be rich:

Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany,
where Lazarus was, which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.
There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of
them that sat at the table with him. Then took Mary a pound of ointment
of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his
feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the
ointment. Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son,
which should betray him, Why was not this ointment sold for three
hundred pence, and given to the poor?
This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a
thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein. Then said Jesus,
Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this. For the
poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always. – John 12:1-8.

This is a beautiful moment in the history of the Christian faith.
Mary took a very expensive ointment to anoint the feet of Jesus and
worshiped Him. Judas’ motivations were clear – he wanted the ointment
sold so he could skim some of the proceeds for himself. But the reason
that Jesus rebukes Judas and allows this worship is in verse 7: “Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this.”

This event took place six days before Jesus would be crucified on the
cross. Jesus was once again reminding His disciples that He was going
to die. The death on the cross of Jesus Christ was the perfect sacrifice
that provided atonement for the sins of the world. It was the
fulfillment of the hundreds of Messianic prophecies. The ultimate plan
of salvation of God was about to come to completion and this ointment,
which was normally used to embalm the dead in ancient times, was a
gesture that Jesus used to signify His own coming death.
So in verse 8, when Christ says, “For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always”
it was a somber reminder that these would be the final days and hours
in which the disciples would have their Lord among them. Jesus Christ,
though fully God, was fully man. He cried, He felt pain, He hungered and
He loved His disciples. And soon it was time to depart from them, while
the poor of Judea would still be there in the following week.
Yet Kong Hee takes this passage and twists it wildly to infer that
Jesus was trying to say, “Me? I’m rich!” and distinguish Himself from
poor people. Hee then gets to his real point – twisting the Scriptures
further to say what Jesus meant was “if you really want to worship me,
it has to be at the right time..” and proceeds to make a push for
offerings for a building fund, “while prices are low..we are in a
recession, for the marketplace..” This is not Biblical teaching. It is a
false Gospel premised on money and earthly riches. 1 Timothy chapter 6
exposes such false teachers saying:

Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself. But godliness with contentment is great gain. – 1 Timothy 6:5-6.

Prosperity Gospel preachers repeatedly preach that “gain” i.e.,
making money and amassing luxury items and wealth, is a sign of “God’s
favor” or “anointing.” The Bible very clearly says this is corrupt
thinking and “destitute of truth.” And that true gain is living for
Jesus and being content with whatever status one has in life.

For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain
we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be
therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a
snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in
destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all
evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith,
and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.- 1 Timothy 6:7-11.

Rather than fleeing the false teachings at City Harvest, thousands are flocking for more.

The leadership at City Harvest Church fell to temptation to copy pop
culture and make millions of dollars in the secular music world. Kong
Hee has clearly erred from the faith and their many tens of thousands of
followers have suffered because they are not hearing the true, Biblical
Gospel. Notice the final warning in the passage is to “flee”
from this type of preaching. Christians are not to sit in churches that
preach false doctrine and hope for change to occur or “give it time.”
The bible instructs us to remove ourselves from these sinful doctrines
as quickly as possible.God Speaks Directly To Kong Hee And Apologizes For The Trial?

The “prophet” Kong Hee claimed God spoke to him directly about the trial.

As if the preaching of City Harvest Church could not get any more
heretical, Kong Hee, who like many Prosperity Gospel/Word of Faith
preachers, claims to be a “modern day prophet”, claimed in the clip
below, given in the summer of 2013, that he spoke to God directly and
that The Lord apologized for Kong Hee being arrested and put on trial.

Notice there was no repentance. Pastor Kong Hee issues no apology
whatsoever. Comparing himself to Jesus Christ on the cross, Kong Hee
claims that God told him it was necessary for him to be arrested and put
on trial for the Church to be the ministry to move a generation. In
other words, everything that City Harvest has done, including the
Crossover Project and the China Wine video, are in essence, endorsed by
God. Many false teachers use this tactic of claiming to have “direct
conversations” with The Lord as a way to compel their followers to
believe whatever they say. If the pastor has the anointing, as proven by
his mansions, luxury cars and private jets, then certainly he or she
should be able to speak to God as well – so goes the thinking.
What is most disturbing about the clip is the applause Hee receives
for his clear lies. Despite the massive investigation and media
attention, City Harvest is still packing full houses in their stadium
for their Sunday performances. Many City Harvest churchgoers line up in
the early morning hours at the court house on a daily basis to show
support for their heroes, Pastor Kong Hee and his leadership team.Pray For This Church

“Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it..” – Psalm 127:1.

Pray for the congregation at City Harvest and the many TV viewers of
their broadcasts to flee from these false teachings and believe in the Biblical Gospel.
Pray for their eyes to be opened to true Biblical teaching and to put
their hope and faith in Christ for eternal riches, not material wealth
today and Ponzi schemes. And pray for Pastor Kong Hee, Sun Ho and the
leadership at City Harvest to repent for their numerous false doctrines
and step down from preaching. The beauty of the Gospel of Jesus Christ
is that while we were all deep in sinful rebellion and immersed in the
world, Jesus Christ died for us. So that anyone can be forgiven if they
put their faith and trust in the Jesus Christ of the Bible, (not the
made up fictional Jesus or God that false teachers speak to directly).
There is true forgiveness and eternal life in Jesus Christ. There are true eternal riches and happiness in Heaven. And it does not cost one dollar to receive it. It only takes faith.

Also see,

When the prosperity Gospel makes believers look
like Zombies : Singapore City Harvest Church Pastor facing ‘allegations’ of
Using Church Funds to Finance Wife’s Pop Music Career